Shadow Reavers
The Shadow Reavers are a piratical warband of Chaos Space Marines striking at the Imperium from Krypteia IV, their base in the Maelstrom. Created in the Cursed Founding as the Shadow Griffons from degraded Raven Guard geneseed, they suffered the further mutation of their Lyman's Ear. As a result the Shadow Griffons’ hearing was amplified enormously, with common sounds becoming painful cacophonies. After their homeworld was lost in Warp Storm Dionys, they were sent on a penitent crusade through the Eye of Terror, where they fell under the dark influence of the Black Prince, a powerful Daemon in the service of Slaanesh. Permanently mired in tendrils of warp-tainted shadow and a daemonic field of sensory deprivation, the Shadow Reavers are infiltrators of the highest calibre, often working their way behind enemy lines and disrupting the foe to allow for the Red Corsairs, their feudal masters, to strike with their mighty fleets. History Founding In 991.M35 and among the many cursed chapters of the 21st Founding were the Shadow Griffons born. In an effort to repair the degraded and unstable geneseed of the Raven Guard, their genetic stock was tampered with without success. Due to this tampering a new flaw had developed in the Shadow Griffons, as their geneseed caused their Lyman’s Ears, the organs that allow a Space Marine to filter and enhance certain sounds, to go haywire and instead enhance all sound. As a result the Shadow Griffons’ hearing was amplified a hundredfold, with common sounds becoming deafening cacophonies, and loud noises bringing great and maddening pain to the Astartes. Ultimately, the Marines saw this flaw of theirs as a gift. Their enhanced hearing meant they could much more effectively master the art of silent movement, stealth and shadow-walking, and this became their covenant in the Emperor’s service: to become the shadow warriors immaculate. A chapter culture of covert perfection developed, the Shadow Griffons accepting their painful enhancement as a burden they have to bear out of duty. Following in their progenitors’ footsteps, the Shadow Griffons organized in companies that were independent of one another and often operated under loose command. While remaining Codex compliant, they built chapter tactics based more on strategic assessment, stealth, infiltration, sabotage and hit-and-run attacks. Due to their flaw the Griffons found working with other defenders of the Imperium hard, as they oftentimes found their methods crass and their very presence unbearable. Chapters that were particularly loud and boisterous were especially unloved by the Shadow Griffons. Furthermore, the failure and ignominy of the 21st, Cursed Founding left many potential allies suspicious and distrustful of the Griffons. As time progressed, they sought to distance themselves from others and would often aid a campaign with minimal contact with other present Imperial forces, working largely independently, aiding offensives behind enemy lines following their own initiative. This of course only increased the mistrust they received. Exacerbating the Shadow Griffons’ problems was the ever-present lack of equipment, as the wargear of the Astartes was often ill-suited to the shadow warfare the Griffons favoured. Not having the pull and prestige of more venerable chapters and their superior hearing revealing flaws that others would not notice, they always struggled to obtain specialized gear. Stalker boltguns and rounds in particular were in great demand among the chapter and were a favourite among its veterans. Many times the Shadow Griffons would come to blows with the representatives of the Adeptus Mechanicus due to what the tech-priests considered ‘lavish requisitions’. Their propensity for seclusion and avoidance of others, as well as their ill reputation as one of the Cursed Founding only served to worsen these problems, so their requests were largely met with indifference. Their demands for equipment unanswered and the tactical dogma of others so wildly differing from their own, the Shadow Griffons naturally found themselves feeling held back and constantly restrained in pursuing the perfection of shadow warfare that was their duty; their potential wasted and dulled instead of honoured and tempered. Increasingly they found themselves desiring isolation from the Imperium at large and wishing to bring death to the Emperor’s enemies alone. Eschewing outside aid, the chapter suffered rising casualties and hardship. Yet this hardship honed the survivors’ skills even further as weakness and imperfection was culled, leaving the Shadow Griffons as seldom rivaled experts of infiltration and stealth. The Abyssal Crusade In 321.M37 the massive Warp Storm Dionys manifested, spreading cancer-like throughout realspace. Among the many sectors and worlds consumed was the Shadow Griffons’ Homeworld of Igan. Most of the chapter’s relics and sacred geneseed, now rapidly mutating under the Warp Storm’s sway, were lost forever. Urgent messages were sent between the scattered fleets of the Griffons, rushing to evacuate what they could from Igan and calling for a gathering to assess and determine the future of the Chapter. But as the Shadow Griffons assembled, an ominous summons was received by the Chapter, ordering them to answer before the Ecclesiarchy. Along with no less than thirty other chapters similarly touched by Dionys’s wrath, the Shadow Griffons were branded as corrupted by Ecclesiarch Saint Basillius. They were given the choice to perish or undertake a Crusade of penitence through the Eye of Terror. The Griffons, along with the rest of those deemed tainted chose the latter, being sent to their certain deaths in what would come to be known as the Abyssal Crusade. The Crusade was a disaster; at the Warp's very entrance, the Arch-enemy was waiting. In the protracted naval battle the Griffons lost all their vessels save their flagship, the Caliginis Rex. The venerable battle barge survived on account of a sudden buckling of warpspace which sent the vessel hurtling uncontrollably through the Warp. Having no choice but to continue their fight, the surviving Griffons made planetfall five times, each descent meeting bloody resistance from traitor and daemon alike. Purging the endless heretic hordes in decades-long guerilla wars, ambushes and surprise attacks, they made their way across the Immaterium, hopelessly lost and without prospect of return. And the longer they remained in the Warp, the worse their flaw was becoming. With each passing hour sounds became more and more deafening; every noise, from the low hum of the Battle Barge’s ancient engines to the violent outburst of the bolter turned into an unbearable and maddening cacophony. There was no rest for the raven sons in this realm of nightmares, and bouts of madness began to show in them, the Griffons lashing out murderously at their serfs who could never be silent enough, or destroying some random part of their damaged Battle Barge to quell its incessant hum. After 66 years of endless wandering and war they encountered the Black Planet, a celestial orb of purest black mired in unnatural fog. As soon as the Griffons made planetfall, all sense seemed to dissipate. Sound, smell, sight, all lost. The deafening crescendos of the Warp muted, light barely reaching the eyes through a veil of gloom. For the first time in their lives, the Shadow Griffons tasted sublime silence. Here and there, where they would come too close, they would notice neophytes writhing in blissful agony, unaware of the Space Marines in their midst. The Griffons struck down many of them; a simple feat to kill a blind mute. They pressed on through the black world, seeking the source of its power. Several cycles they roamed the silent planet, until they noticed what little remained of their senses diffuse even further. They braved on, for they were approaching the epicenter. Finally, a voice struck the silence in their heads, an unwelcome intruder in the calm. Accompanying the telepathic voice they could soon sense a shape as well, clothed in darkness: a colossal form with cloven foot and wings unfurled. What emerged from the dark planet were Astartes forms engulfed in wisps of darkness, silent flames of pitch black dancing across their power armour, breaking the form and blending them with shadow. They spoke with soft voices of infrasound, unnoticeable to the human ear. All their movements unnaturally muffled and hushed, the Marines left carrying a part of the dark planet’s power with them. Reneging their ties to the Corpse Imperium, the Shadow Griffons were no more; in their place the Shadow Reavers arose, piratical and cruel in their newfound praise of the dark god Slaanesh. The Siege of Krypteia For many years the Shadow Reavers ravaged unfettered through space, assaulting heretics and Imperials alike and taking what they pleased. A history of constant technological scarcity birthed in them a piratical desire for plunder, and quickly they amassed vast amounts of wealth. In turn they traded this wealth with heretek Forge Worlds or warbands with gear and slaves to spare. But technology proved to be in short supply in the Eye, especially those rare items the Reavers coveted. Soon the warband decided they needed a more permanent base of operations, one with the capability of production as well as a steady supply of slaves, servants and recruits. After long years of searching and fighting through the Warp, the Reavers discovered a well-hidden system within the roiling Maelstrom: Krypteia. Home to six resource-rich planets orbiting around twin suns, the second-largest one, Krypteia IV, was home to a renegade faction known as the Qaraskar Sovereignty. A desolate red desert planet for the most part and roamed by marauding gangs and speed cults, its southern pole was swallowed up by a continent-spanning Hive, capitol to the planet and the Sovereignty’s seat of power. Within its lowest, darkest depths, the Hive contained entrances to a vast underground system of caverns that spread across the planet. Within these pits were a myriad hidden forges that churned out toxic fumes through the titanic chimneys that dotted Krypteia IV’s landscape. The hidden factories were operated by a cloistered group of Dark Mechanicum that called themselves the Techarchy. Numerous pirate crews frequented the Qaraskar Hive and traded bounty and slaves for fragments of the Techarch forges’ power, the Sovereignty acquiring a share of the transactions between pirate and heretek. It was exactly what the Shadow Reavers desired in a Homeworld. Infiltrating one of the many pirate vessels that frequented Krypteia’s docks, scouting parties of Reavers landed on the planet in secret. For months on end they scoured the Hives, ascertained all defenses, tallied all present battle forces and mapped the planet, even making a few dangerous forays into the underground caverns. The world’s defenses were many: a vast array of ordnance, Macro Cannon emplacements and more. After considerable reconnaissance the Shadow Reavers stowed away on another pirate vessel, overtook its crew and used it to return to the rest of the warband. Extensive analysis of the compiled data revealed the simple fact that they were ill-equipped to take the planet. The Reavers did notice however, that another force was also subtly showing interest in Krypteia IV. When the Shadow Reavers met the Sons of Malady, they could not be more dissimilar. The Obliterator Cult, dedicated to the worship of the Plaguefather Nurgle, favoured the use of crushing force delivered in full frontal attacks until total annihilation was achieved. Where the Shadow Reavers infiltrated, hit and ran, and saw to outsmart their opponent in fluent warfare, the Sons of Malady delivered static blow after static blow, dwindling the enemy through cruel attrition to the bitter end. And like the Iron Warriors they had splintered from, the Maladists had in their possession an assortment of big guns. The two warbands however shared a few aspects: neither trusted the other, neither held the other in high regard, and neither wished to share the spoils of Krypteia IV. Most importantly however, both were alike in the fact that they could not take the planet on their own. In 999.M37, when the Caliginis Rex appeared above Krypteia IV’s sky accompanied by the Desolator Cruiser Bearer of Malady, the planetary defense lasers opened fire immediately. The Space Marine vessels responded in kind with devastating efficiency, targeting established key defenses in orbital strikes. Through the exchange of fire, the Battle Barge and Cruiser spewed out their full detachments of Drop Pods, landing within the gigantic palace of the Sovereignty, crashing into its towering spires. Claxons fired from within its walls and immediately regiments of renegades, pirates and cultists as well as a few Skitarii sent by the Techarchs deployed and swarmed the palace to fend off the attackers. What they did not know was that their ever-secluded ruling elite had already been assassinated over the course of several planetary rotations by infiltrating Shadow Reavers, and that the jettisoned Drop Pods were empty. As the main bulk of Krypteia’s defenses gathered to defend the empty capital spire of their world, a devastating barrage of ordnance smashed into its foundations, bringing the massive edifice to collapse. A vanguard of Maladist heavy firepower had been smuggled into Krypteia and given accurate assessment of the structure and its weak points. As the spire broke and shattered, collapsing with tremendous force into the bowels of the Hive, Krypteia IV lost the core corpus of its army, gathered there to defend their rulers. The reservists, the stragglers that managed to escape and the regiments that could not reach the Sovereignty stronghold in time found themselves waylaid by blades and bolter rounds that seemed to strike from the dark and return to it as quickly as the slaughter had begun. Facing a force so versed in the art of silence, the Krypteians stood no chance at countering the deadly hit and run tactics, and with great zeal and homicidal anger the Shadow Reavers sought to still Krypteia of all living sound. Wherever pockets of resistance would become entrenched and prove tough to eliminate, the Sons of Malady took to gleefully exterminating them with superior firepower and the murderous experience of millennia. Spontaneously a cooperative understanding between the Reavers and Maladists developed and the two forces, as different in their methods as they were, began acting in concert. The Maladists would appear with all the brutal firepower at their disposal and pound the enemy with such force that they could not hope to see the Reaver’s blade behind them. What didn’t crumble before the hail of iron was culled by unseen attackers. With grand haste the Space Marines made their way through the Hive’s levels, the resistance becoming more and more sparse. Word of the massacres in the upper echelons had already reached the rest of the Hive and permeated the vast forge caverns below, so that many militia regiments dispersed in fear-induced mutiny before the Reavers and Maladists even came. Recognizing the insignia of the invading Chaos Space Marines, cults dedicated to Slaanesh and Nurgle began to emerge and mobilize against the Krypteian defenders, wishing to claim the planet for the Dark Prince or the Plaguefather. Among the remaining Hive nobility, plots and intrigues were put into rapid action as those highborn that were part of the pleasure cults sought to seize power for themselves. Disorder came to rule Krypteia IV and the Chaos Space Marines’ stride towards the interior was made all the easier as the Hive burned in conflict around them. Six weeks into the siege the Shadow Reavers and Sons of Malady reached the Bottomless Gate, the massive gateway that divided the lowest level of the Hive from the Techarchs’ forges within the planet. What remained of Krypteia’s defenders had garrisoned the gate and entrenched themselves there, but when the Chaos Space Marines arrived the defenses were already weakened by the constant assault of the pleasure cults’ mobs. Surrounded by cultists, the Shadow Reavers and Sons of Malady advanced on the fortified gate. As the siege engines of the Maladists peltered the gate with fire, the Reavers’ elites made their way unnoticed through the defenders’ ranks and assaulted their rear. Beset by a myriad cultists and the unstoppable advance of the Chaos Space Marines from both sides, the Krypteian militia had nowhere to run as they were gunned down to the man. With them fell Krypteia IV. The coalition of Space Marines began reorganizing the planet to fit their own desires. Even though they came into the siege as reluctant and distrustful allies, the fighting birthed a healthy respect between the two warbands, and for all their disparities they found that their opposing styles of war meshed perfectly and naturally into a far deadlier battle method. After days of negotiation they decided on how to share Krypteia’s spoils. The Reavers opted to name the Hive-continent Quiesca and soon enough forced the planet’s populace to rebuild the Sovereignty’s spire into a bastion of Astartes power. Two towering fortresses, Maladia and the Silent Court came to dominate Quiesca’s skies, from whence the Reavers and Maladists ruled with an iron fist. Appointing planetary advisors and servants to handle the day-to-day management of the world, they took control of all piratical trade, demanding taxes from the renegade captains as the Sovereignty once did. Rise of the Corsairs Beginning with 912.M41, an increasing number of the corsairs of Krypteia saw themselves ambushed out of their hiding spots and fought for their spoils. Rival pirates became increasingly bolder in their actions. Soon enough Chaos Space Marines began assaulting Krypteian fleets. The Krypteian economy, burgeoning once with lucre under the two millennia of Astartes leadership, saw the signs of straining under the increased competition. Unrest among the pirate fleets became untenable, even as far as Chaos-aligned empires of insane, murderous criminals go. The Porphyr Elixis, as the loose coalition of pirates was known, increasingly clamoured for Shadow Reaver aid in securing their bounties. And so the Shadow Reavers began once more a wave of attacks on the Maelstrom. Pirate fleets clashed in exacerbating conflict, waylaying each other time after time. As the clashes raged, already rumours began to spread of an emerging pirate empire in the Maelstrom’s south, burning and conquering the strongholds of old. In fear, many of the Maelstrom’s denizens had migrated away from the rising threat, coming in increasing conflict as they encroached on Krypteia’s territory. The Shadow Reavers, utilizing the stealth capabilities of the Caliginis Rex and the firepower of the Maladists’ own Bearer of Malady lead lightning raids upon newly built or taken strongholds and fleets, attempting to turn back the tide of refugees from the Maelstrom’s emerging empire, the Red Corsairs. Those running from the Tyrant of Badab were not without a cunning of their own, however, and constant losses were enacted on the Krypteians. More and more the fighting was becoming unsustainable for the world’s dwellers, and the threat did not ever seem to dissipate. After years of Maelstrom battle the hegemony of the Red Corsairs had become an ever-cementing reality, and it brought more and more fresh enemies into conflict with Krypteia IV. It wasn’t just outlying systems that ran, it was now a full tide of the Maelstrom’s denizens scrambling for safety at its opposite edges. In 953.M41, as the red fleets slowly encroached, the Shadow Reavers found themselves raiding an outpost and munitions depot belonging to the Deathsplitters, a force that only recently had taken refuge in the region. It was a trap however, as while the Reavers were away, a strike force of the Putrescent Dawn and the Remainders cultist warbands, along with the plague marines of the Deathsplitters, landed on Krypteia. When their battleship finally arrived to defend their home planet, the Sons of Malady found a world in turmoil and their first act was ordering defense units to retreat and abandon defense posts. They then proceeded to bombard from orbit sites of Putrescent Dawn victories and activity, leveling huge swaths of the Hive Continent of Quiesca and killing millions of its inhabitants. As they made planetfall, the Maladists regrouped at their fortress and began retaking lost land, driving their heavy guns through the streets of Krypteia while establishing orbital kill boxes. However, after failing to push the already infiltrated invading army back, and actually forcing the Putrescent Dawn to enter the hive even deeper to escape bombardment, the Maladists received a vox transmition bearing the signatures of the Reavers. A marked paradigm shift occured in their tactics, as they then began bombarding even larger swaths of the Hive, now sustaining the bombardments until nothing of the multi-leveled spires remained. They repurposed the Hive City’s defense lasers and artillery to add to the fire. Effectively, they returned parts of Quiesca back to the Krypteian desert, its winds burying what remained of the once tall spires under red sand. They then began cutting off the contested parts of the Hive, surrounding it by bombardment-induced ruins and creating an open buffer zone that the Putrescent Dawn would have to pass to go deeper into Quiesca. Any attempt to cross this zone was met with heavy fire, and the invaders were trapped into an ever-decreasing separated area of hab-blocks, the Bearer of Malady turning its guns to diminishing this invaded zone. When the Putrescent Dawn could be bottle-necked no longer, they were forced to flee the Maladists’ guns into the open ruins behind them. It was then that the Shadow Reavers joined the fray, at their helm a massive armada of scavenged and ad hoc vehicles. Through the course of the fighting the returning Reavers had been assaulting and taking control of the many autonomous and disheveled speed cults that roamed the Krypteian wastes, unifying them in a mobilized army of weaponized cars and makeshift tanks. Trapped between the bombardment and the encroaching army of speed freaks, the Putrescent Dawn contingents were ran down and smashed beneath spiked wheels and repurposed roller-compactors or blown to bits by sustained artillery barrages, and soon the Deathsplitters themselves followed. When the Red Corsairs' fleets finally came to Krypteia IV, the guns were silent. Huge swaths of the once burgeoning Hive City were rubble. Stacks of black smoke spread far and wide across the horizon. Out stepped Oneius Prayd with the might of Huron Blackheart behind his words, and the Reavers, reeling from the heavy fighting, had no choice but to acquiesce, pledging their fealty to the Red Corsairs while paying unfathomable tithes and supplying the new powerhouse of the Maelstrom with the fruits of the forges' labour. Once the Shadow Reavers swore their loyalty to the Red Corsairs, they began accompanying their vast and powerful fleets on their raids. Often the Reavers would serve as an infiltrating vanguard, creeping into outposts and installations before the brunt of the forces arrived howling and screaming. The Reavers would lower defense grids, open fortifications and silently murder operating staff to remove any obstacles to the raiding parties. With them they had brought also the human corsairs of the Porphyr Elixis, who added their strengths to the growing armadas of the Red Corsairs. Time of Ending In 999.M41, as the Black Legion passed through Cadia victorious, a fleet of Imperial vessels was making its way through the Maelstrom, and the Reavers were summoned by Huron Blackheart. Accompanied by a Tzeentchian monstrosity, the oracle Kairos Fateweaver, Lord Blackheart had gathered a vast armada from his endless fleets. Joining the Red Corsairs, the Caliginis Rex traveled to the edges of the Maelstrom to a graveyard of derelicts. Vessels of all sizes and makes, Imperial or alien, the size of hives or as small as drop pods, lied in a vast ship necropolis, drifting slowly through Maelstrom space. Between the derelicts hung giant chains of brass, linking them all in an intricate and almost impenetrable web. The ships stretched as far as eye or augur could see in all directions, and the Red Corsairs waited on the other side. Barges camouflaged with debris and maglocked chains, the Heretic Astartes waited for their quarry, ship systems set to low to mask their living nature. Among these docked the Caliginis Rex, chained to the debris of a space hulk. Then it came, an armada of vessels, of Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Sisters of Battle - all the forces of the Imperium gathered in a Crusade across the Maelstrom. Slowly they drifted through the trap, colliding with derelicts, chains scraping gashes across ancient hulls. Slowly they made way towards the edge, where clear space awaited. But as soon as they drew near, the Red Corsairs’ ships roared to life, and the Shadow Reavers followed suit. Lances firing to cripple engines and defenses, an arm of the armada surrounded the Imperium’s forces and struck from the sides. Long were the barrages and masterful. Those ships that attempted to escape were cut down without mercy. When the ebony frigate Silent Blade attempted to make way for realspace, the Reavers shot at its starboard. The lances joined the firepower of a plethora of other ships that partitioned the Silent Blade, breaking it in half. As the Red Corsairs approached, point blank batteries roaring, so did the Reavers follow suit and soon boarding torpedoes were launched. In the case of the Reavers, it was their vanguard of beastmen and Porphyr Elixis that led the charge, Marines following closely behind. Crashing into the White Consuls vessel Divine Fury, the Reavers’ ratling-like abhumans swarmed the decks and scaled the many vents of the vessel, assaulting defenders and using the hidden crannies of ships to flank and surround enemy embankments. When only the most hardened opposition remained, the Reavers came with overwhelming power to finish the job. Throughout their years of pirating through the Maelstrom, they had gained an intimate knowledge of vessel combat, which they now brought to bear against their Imperial enemies. Finally, the Terminators of the Exalted teleported upon the bridge as the beastmen and vanguard coalesced. In a pitched and heated battle, the Reavers emerged victorious over the White Consuls and claimed the Divine Fury for the Red Corsairs. The vast spoils, the many ships and supplies the Imperial crusade had taken with them had been claimed for Chaos and were taken to the nearest Red Corsairs base - a Blackstone Fortress gifted to Huron Blackheart by none other than The Despoiler himself. Although the Reavers knew of its existence, this was the first time they had set foot on the giant and terrible edifice. Under the watchful eye of Lord Verngar the Apostate, the Reavers docked at the fortress to count their gains and losses. Their task in this battle was complete, and they were eager to partake of the spoils and return to Krypteia to plan their next raids. In the commotion and revelry, no one noticed the red and brass fleets converging on the Blackstone Fortress. As the vast armada of Khornate vessels approached, it was already too late. The Fortress’s defenders opened fire but did little to stifle the rage of Skarbrand and his followers. The Red Corsairs’ forces set up ordered lines to defend the fortress and their precious jailed cargo from the Khornate hordes. The Reavers, being followers of the Dark Prince Slaanesh, held a special hatred in their hearts for the hounds of the Blood God and joyously joined the defense, fighting viciously against the oncoming forces of Khorne. The pitched battle raged on for many an hour, the Reavers holding their ground and finally joining the liberation of adjacent hallways and cells when they were free to maneuvre. Abhuman beastmen once again sent as fodder to the chainaxes of Khorne Berzerkers, the Reavers followed, unleashing bullet rains and walls of infrasonic. Where they could relieve allied Red Corsairs, they would join them in clearing the docking bays from the still oncoming Khornate threat. So heated was the fighting that communication had been completely severed and the Reavers operated without knowledge of what was going on deeper into the Blackstone Fortress, where the bulk of the Khornates had been headed. Through heavy casualties, the docking bays were finally cleared of the interlopers. When the fighting was finished, the Reavers regrouped with the Red Corsairs to learn that the Imperial prisoners had escaped, taking their venerable wargear with them. Still, the Reavers were able to claim the White Consuls vessel they had taken, renaming the ship Iridescent. With their diminished strength, the warband retreated back to their hidden fortress, biding their time. In their silent halls they began recouperating and replenishing their numbers. Soon enough the Warp swelled and the galaxy broke. As the 41st millennium drew to a close, Abaddon’s Crimson Path manifested as a giant scar across the galaxy, spanning from one end to the other. The Imperium of Man was torn asunder and the Astronomican fell dark. As the Immaterium burst with fell energies, the planets of Man were left alone and defenseless in the blackness. From the Maelstrom and from Krypteia now flowed pathways to almost all of the distant stars of the galaxy, and the Reavers and Red Corsairs assaulted with renewed vigour. The isolated planets of the Imperium were easy targets for raiding and once again the Heretic Astartes’ coffers swelled as slaves and plunder were brought back with great fanfare to their hidden fortresses inside the Maelstrom. In one hundred years of unbridled raiding and slaughter, the Reavers were returned to their full strength. And from the moment the Cicatrix Maledictum cleft the Imperium in two, the powers of darkness grew, and the gaze of Slaanesh fell more sharply upon Her followers. The gifts of the Black Planet intensified as the energy of the warp burst. The wisps of black flame now engulfed the Reavers in their totality, and all sound emanating from them was muffled a thousandfold. Voices growing ever lower but ears becoming ever sharper, each sound a relentless maddening cacophony that cut through the thick mist of senselessness, the Shadow Reavers became walking shadows, half incorporeal. Even under the direct sunlight of Krypteia’s scorching red suns they were only faint shapes of translucent black mist, voices forever silent for all who were unlike them. The Speed Cults of Krypteia and the Porphyr Elixis increasingly centralized under Reaver leadership, adding their might to the Shadow Reavers’ forays into the Imperium and allowing them to strike at larger targets. Likewise, the sycophants, hereteks and plague cultists that had massed around the Maladists now followed the Obliterator cult in massive armadas. The pirate kingdom now housed two semi-independent forces and they worked tirelessly and with newfound energy to swell the markets and docks of the planet with stolen plunder and chattel. And when the two forces gathered in tandem, they were enough to overwhelm star systems. As the new millennium dawned, the Shadow Reavers and Sons of Malady, bolstered by their vast piratical navies, renewed their reigns of terror. And with the Warp scar dividing the galaxy, they now preyed freely upon every corner of the Galaxy, from end to bloody end. Notable Engagements * Skaldris Incursion: '''After several Reaver-affiliated corsair bands report strange effects near a minor warpway that ends with the planet Skaldris, the Shadow Reavers make planetfall to investigate. There they are assaulted by a reawakened Necron threat and only narrowly manage to repel the first wave. To make matters worse, contingents of Dark Angels and Blood Angels swarm the sector to fight back the Necrons. After several battles the Reavers are pushed into underground caverns, fortifying them as temporary bases. In the end, the Reavers manage to push out as the Imperium fights against the reawakened xenos threat. The Necrons seize the opportunity to reactivate their dormant planetary defenses and drive out the Imperium from their system, allowing the Heretic Astartes to escape. * '''Crone World Raid and Scouring of Skaar: In 897.M40 The Reavers, in search of xenotech, find themselves waylaid by an Eldar ambush on one of the Eye of Terror's many unnamed Crone Worlds, but are rescued by a warband of Word Bearers led by Marduk Kal the Thrice-Blessed, likewise a scion of Slaanesh. Together they infiltrate the Hive Worlds of Skaar and stoke its hidden Chaos cults into an uprising against their rulers. In desperation, the nobility seek the aid of alien mercenaries and inadvertently summon a Commorite raid into their planet. Chaos Space Marines and Drukhari clash in the streets of the Hive, until the Dark Eldar decide to cut their losses and abandon the world with what meager gains they have made. The Shadow Reavers acquire scores of xenotech, while the Word Bearers turn Skaar into a daemon world in the honour of the Dark Gods. * First Necron Invasion of Goblin Hive: In 567.997.M41 Skaldris's Hest'Jaw Dynasty begins expanding into the Gobelinus system. At the same time the Ork Waaagh! Frikka-Frakka lands in Goblin Hive, the system's most populous centre. Fleets of Space Marines: contingents of the Ultramarines, Dark Angels and Space Wolves come to liberate the hive city and drive back the alien from the system. Tasked by Plague Lord Cuharrion, who had taken control of the Shadow Reavers after beating their champion in a Skull Harvest, to destabilize the Imperial efforts, the Shadow Reavers send their elites to the system. As the Necrons, Orks and Imperium fight for Goblin Hive, the Reavers enact a campaign of sabotage to stall the Imperial advance, allowing the Necrons to erect massive defensive structures. As the war rages on with no end in sight, the Reavers retreat silently. * Destruction of Installation 924: In the closing days of 997.M41 and as the Necron Invasion of Goblin Hive continued, Plague Lord Cuharrion, followed by several warbands including the Shadow Reavers, strikes at Installation 924, a manufacturing planet that supplies the Knightly House Palor against which the Plague Lord had a vendetta. A force of the House’s Knights, as well as deployments of Ultramarines and Dark Angels, fail to save the reaving of the world despite enacting critical damage to the Skull Harvest armies, as Lord Cuharrion unleashes seven plagues upon it, striking down its populace with black buboes or coughs of blood or the dead rising from their graves. The seventh and final plague rusts and corrods the edifices of the world. Hives topple, factorums come crashing down and cathedrals to the Emperor buckle above their rotted foundations and buttresses. With the world’s ending Cuharrion's vendetta has ended, and his Plague Marines and the Reavers parted ways. Relations Enemies * Ultramarines * Blood Angels * Dark Angels * Hest'Jaw Necron Dynasty Allies * Red Corsairs * The Black Prince * Sons of Malady * Porphyr Elixis * Krypteian Techarchy * Marduk Kal the Thrice-Blessed Cult and culture , armed with an infrasonic doom siren.]] For the most part the Shadow Reavers are shaped by their flaw, the deformation of their Lyman's Ear that amplifies even the fall of a leaf to unbearable and painful levels of noise. This flaw has left the Shadow Reavers with a singular and excessive focus on silence and senselessness. They seldom speak, and when they do they do so succinctly. Those under their yoke are forbidden to converse in the Reavers' presence, the sound of speech an insult and affront to them. Indeed, most of their slaves and servants have had their tongues pulled out and mouths sewn shut. Their geneseed, tainted by the warp energies of the Black Planet, manifests black fogs that surround a Reaver in a miasma of shadow, obscuring their movement and leaving their form half-translucent and hard to detect even in broad daylight. A daemonic aura of sensory deprivation emanates from them; as one approaches a Reaver, they feel the tips of their tongue and fingers lose the sense of touch, ears becoming deafened, speech muffled. Those that suffer this effect for long may be left permanently blind, permanently deaf and permanently senseless. This warp energy gives the Shadow Reavers a tremendous advantage in their shadow work, infiltrating behind enemy lines and enacting acts of sabotage. When they speak, their voices are infrasound and beyond the hearing capacity of baseline humans. To communicate with their many servants, the Reavers utilize speech-slaves, hapless victims grafted with tech-heretical super-sensory technology to relay their speech. The endless cacophony, as all sound around them is amplified, very quickly leaves these speech-slaves insane. The warp darkness bears no recourse to the Reavers' flaw however, for the Chaos Space Marines themselves will experience sound and sense as sharp as ever, with no respite to their torturous pain.'''' Favored Tactics Specializing in uneven warfare, the Shadow Reavers favour lightning strikes and infiltration to brute force. They will lie in wait, sow disinformation, ambush and retreat in devious guerilla hit and run strikes. A Reaver commander, counseled by prescient sorcerers and witches, will always attempt to choose the moment of battle to his specifications, attacking only when they deem appropriate. If ever their forces are waylaid or find themselves in situations that are not in their favour, they will rather retreat, regroup and rethink than show steadfastness. For them war is a fluid art of brainpower and planning, one that must be perfected - the Prince of Excess demands nothing less than absolute precision. Even from their days as servants to the corpse Imperium they saw shadow warfare as their charge, and their fall from grace only cemented their resolution to perfecting it. From the day they become Shadow Reavers, the Astartes will train incessantly the art of sneaking and shadow-walking, of remaining undetected, scouting and stalking. The Shadow Reavers utilize a number of unique weapons and gear courtesy of the hereteks of Krypteia IV, Warp-tainted items inundated with Black Planet energies: jump packs, hellfire rounds and jet propulsion systems that spit out dark Warp-flames, tech-heretical and silent plasma-engined bikes, scanner jamming devices, in-built grenade launchers and a plethora of other gear designed to keep the Reavers hidden. Of particular brilliance are a selection of sonic weaponry that relies exclusively on infrasound, its wailings below the hearing capacity of most races, but a bittersweet cacophony to the Shadow Reavers. Recruitment When an acolyte is chosen from the endless sycophants of Krypteia IV, they will undergo brutal training before being sent to the frontlines. Many are the tasks of an acolyte, from battlefield scouting, retrieval of gear and materiel, to guiding and commanding the unruly abhuman hordes that accompany the warband. Many will man smaller, human-meant vessels like interceptors or shoot from pintles and turrets of tanks and Thunderhawks. Along with honing their skills in stealth, acolytes will be sent on dangerous, ritualistic tasks to advance, such as stalking the predators of Krypteia with no weapons - a task almost impossible in the open deserts of the planet. Only those with the greatest resolve, mental wherewithal and ability will survive to receive the final test: in the depths of the Silent Court, the fortress of the Shadow Reavers, lies an endless labyrinth of pitch darkness. To join the Shadow Reavers, the acolytes will be left weaponless within its bowels with no food or water while being hunted by the reservists of the Chaos Space Marines. Only those that survive six days of hunting will be given the sacred geneseed, for only a master of stealth could hide from the supreme senses of the stalking Astartes. Upon a successful transplant of the gene-seed, an acolyte’s newly implanted Lyman’s Ears will almost immediately show the warband’s flaw and will become extremely sensitive to sound. At this stage the acolytes are locked in the Tower of Cacophony, in open cells where they can all hear each other’s screams. Only after they learn to bear the pain of loudness, a pain that will only increase as they grow older, will the gift of the shadow planet, now ingrained in the gene-seed itself, manifest. Black flames will appear engulfing the acolyte’s bodies, dancing shadows ever concealing their form. From thereon every sound they make will be transformed into infrasound by the field of dark daemonic energy, below the hearing frequencies of most enemies or friends. In time their skin will become alabaster white while their hair turns jet black with eyes of total pitch darkness. Warband Organization The Reavers are masters of many but are not many themselves, numbering only 60 Astartes. They only act as the elite of their armies, the speartip that breaks through the toughest defenses, the precision blow that strikes at the neck to disable the entire body. For everything else the many pirates of the Porphyr Elixis and the Reavers’ own strain of abhuman cultists will inevitably make up the bulk of their assaults. Lords of the Shadow Reavers The Shadow Reavers are ruled over by the six Lords of the Warband. As highest leader stands the Master of Shadows. Beneath him are the five specialists that oversee the continued efficient functioning of the warband: the Master of the Fleet, leading the armadas of pirates and commanding all naval offensives; the Grand Sorcerer, advisor on all things daemonic and immaterial and responsible for all the warband’s psykers, most of which are human: those that navigate and traverse the Warp, astropaths, divinators, summoners and their ilk; the Master of the Forge, who commands the many hereteks and dark enginseers that oversee the equipment and vehicles of the Shadow Reavers; the Grand Apostle, bestower of faith and keeper of warband traditions as well as master of rituals; and finally there is the Grand Apothecary, in charge of gene-seed and the continuous health and existence of the warband. Brotherhoods of the Shadow Reavers The active fighting forces of the Shadow Reavers are split into six brotherhoods, specializing in various methods of warfare. Each brotherhood is lead by a Shadow Lord, a veteran of many battles. The Shadow Lords themselves congregate in their own Shadow Council, which for the most part acts democratically. For most military actions, usually only outlined by the Master of Shadows, the Council decides the appropriate tactics and approach to battle. The Shadow Lords are direct leaders and can almost always be seen on the battlefield among their men. In lieu of the Master of Shadows leading the Reavers to battle himself which is a rare occurrence for the venerable and cloistered master, the Shadow Lords will choose one of their number as warlord. Notable Shadow Reavers * Master of Shadows Crassus * Grand Sorcerer Arcani * Master of the Fleet Antoninus * Shadow Captain Antoninus * Shadow Lord Qan of the Host * Shadow Lord Ludovica Murderqueen Auxiliaries Despite their pride in their abilities, pragmatism ever drives the Shadow Reavers and they accept as a matter of course that the Astartes do not make the front line. In their days serving the corpse Imperium it was always the billion regiments of the Astra Militarum that took the brunt of the fighting, allowing the Space Marines to enact the final, surgical strikes they excelled at. Never numerous, every Reaver’s death is a significant loss for the warband. It is far better then to have someone else die in their stead. And for their anvil and fodder the ever-selective Reavers chose a type of abhuman that thrived within the bowels of Hive Quiesca and Krypteia IV’s bottomless forges: a diminutive, rat-like strain of Beastman that was adept at traversing the subterranean corridors and pipeways undetected. Where they found baseline humans, especially those in the service of the Dark Prince, to be loud, uncontrollable and insufferable, the Krypteian rat-men were noiseless and devoted to the Reavers beyond all, and proliferated at a staggering rate, an important trait in meat for the grinder. Armoured with improvised plates and scrap metal shields, and armed with a variety of makeshift rifles, the Beastman auxiliaries soon made their home in the lower, uncharted pathways of the Caliginis Rex, becoming a constant and plentiful companion to Reaver forces ever since. Excelling at navigating small vents and ducts, the rat-men became indispensable for infiltrating facilities and fortresses, as well as during ship-to-ship assaults, where they would flank entrenched defenders or ambush attackers. Mutants cannot be deemed fit to lead themselves however, or to be trusted with special weaponry, so these roles are given to the Reavers’ acolytes and aspirants. The attrition rate for these positions is high, as many of the acolytes will be eaten alive by the mutants themselves. Notable Auxiliaries The Crone, Lord Auxiliary Lithe and gracious, the half-daemon, half-flesh mutant known as the Crone stalked the Crone Worlds of the Eye of Terror in search of Eldar scouts to devour. A seething hatred for their race drove the Crone to eat their flesh. Intrigued, the Reavers that found the possessed hunter captured it and brought it back to their pirate haven as sport for Krypteia’s arenas, but no opponent seemed to be the Crone's match. Deciding to test her mettle on the field of battle, she was put into the Auxilia, leading the savage mutants in slaughter. Her killing prowess and tactical, almost bestial cunning soon elevated the Crone to leader of the Auxilia in its entirety as the lowly ratlike Beastmen seemed to respect the Crone's savagery, recognizing the apex predator in their mist. Gracchus Sextus Although a failed aspirant, Sextus miraculously bore the raven's mark - the ivory skin and jet black eyes and hair that mark all progeny of Corax, including the Shadow Reavers. Sextus had become affluent and influential even from his rather lowly position, and had extended his life through rejuvenat treatments, becoming the oldest and most experienced of the acolytes before giving his life fighting against the Ultramarines, bravely and defiantly charging Lord Guilliman, their progenitor. Unfortunately, Sextus was no match for the Primarch. Agnise the Undying An Inquisitor fallen from grace, Agnise foolishly made a pact with a daemon that promised her immortality. What she gained was an ability to rejuvenate grievous wounds, yet to the amusement of the Dark Gods that very instant she was captured by a band of Chaos Space Marines, who found her powers an amazing boon in a slave. Forcing her into the most heinous and deadly labour and knowing she would survive the ordeal, the maniacal Heretic Astartes found great pleasure in the grotesque injury she had to withstand. Through the internecine wars between the warbands of Chaos, Agnise switched several hands until at last landing in the possession of the Reavers, who shared many of the same propensities and ideas of her previous masters, sending the once proud Inquisitor into suicide missions to draw away fire or simply when they believe there might be mines ahead. Clodovicus the Reviler The leader of the Firanor Rebellion, Clodovicus was a noble-born spyrer of Firanor's largest hive city. Joining the secret pleasure cults of the nobility at a young age, the Reviler decided a life of hedonism was nothing if the common man could not partake. So, he made way to the lower reaches of the hive to spread the word of Slaanesh among its citizens. After years of proselytizing, his cult had reached critical mass and poured forth, summoning both daemons and Chaos Space Marines to take over the planet. Victorious, he was taken in by the Chaos Space Marines. Yet the warband died in a gang war on Krypteia IV, and Clodovicus was stuck until the Reavers came. Aiding their efforts to conquer the planet, he was sworn into the Auxilia and has served loyally ever since. Category:Slaanesh Category:Chaos Category:Chaos Space Marines Category:Excommunicate Traitoris